A Courthouse Moment is a series of occasional stories reported by Duke student journalists as the action unfolds in front of them in the Durham…
Posts published in “Courthouse Project”
Pearlie Williams, 63, was supposed to appear at the Durham County Courthouse for her final eviction hearing on December 13. Then two days beforehand, it…
On Tuesday, Oct. 3, Pearlie Williams, 63, sat silently in the front row of Courtroom 4D at the Durham County Courthouse, waiting to be called…
Probation court—held four times a month at the Durham County Courthouse—bustles on a Tuesday morning in May. Here, Courtroom 7C is filled with chatter. Attorneys…
Rocks struck the brown vinyl exterior of Deyli’s Durham home last November. Like a baseball player, her ex-boyfriend pitched each rock with a grin as…
Andréa “Muffin” Hudson is an activist for incarcerated individuals, directs two criminal justice nonprofits, and believes prisons do catastrophic harm. She is also a gun owner. …
While most of my friends spent Halloween at costume parties or trick-or-treating, I was at the Durham County Courthouse listening to the opening statements of…
It is a Wednesday afternoon in October in suite 4700—the Durham County Public Defender’s Office. A woman sits in the corridor, Face-timing a friend. Minutes…
Kellie Smith wants to spend the holidays with her children. “I missed my kids having their first steps, them crawling for the first time, them…
In Durham County Courtroom 7C recently, prosecutor Mary Jude Darrow scans a docket of first appearances, bond hearings, and probation violations. Outside, a pair of…